Lady Godiva And Brentford at Home

There's a statue named 'Self Sacrifice' in Broadgate, Coventry that depicts the naked horse ride through the city taken by Lady Godiva. This was by all accounts a very early protest against her own husbands repressive taxation policy. Leaving aside the hope that both Extinction Rebellion and the so-called English Defence League never take up this method, there were probably many people at that time that would have curled up with embarrassment at those actions.

This brings me nicely onto the fixture last Wednesday evening in the Carabao / EFL / League / Cup which pitted Spurs against their Championship opponents from that City. It was by general acceptance one of the worst performances for many a year, even by the standards of some of our recent cup debacles. 

Ange Postecoglou made eight changes to the team that lost to Arsenal the previous weekend. This was twice as many as I would have been comfortable with but obviously I'm not in and around the squad and have no idea of their physical condition.

For the record Coventry made seven changes from their previous match.

One of our changes, Wilson Odobert, got the statutory hamstring injury that all new recruits must suffer early in the match and was replaced by the eventual hero of the hour Brennan Johnson.

Lucas Burgvall, making his first start was a lone bright spark in the first half. One hundred and seven year old goalkeeper Fraser Forster played like every one of his one hundred and seven years and Timo Werner like an unfit civil servant who'd won a competition in Die Spiegel to play one half in a fourth tier German football match. 

Of course after several near misses Coventry took the lead when scorer Thomas-Assante got the wrong side of Dragusin to convert a low cross. In fairness to Radu, his head was probably still spinning from being hit by a low flying Forster who'd charged out missed the ball completely and took out Dragusin. Luckily Ben Davies had got back and cleared the ball off the line. 

The 'big gun' substitutions had started (Son & Maddison came on just before the Coventry goal)  and it was a combination of three of them that led to the undeserved 87th minute equaliser. Spence passed inside to Maddison, a lovely fist time ball to Kulusevski who helped in on to Spence who'd continued his run and he flicked it passed Ben Wilson in the Coventry goal.

Suddenly Spurs remembered they're meant to be the higher ranked side and a classic midfield press led to Bentancur driving forward with the ball and releasing a beautiful pass to Johnson who clipped it over the advancing keeper. 

Johnson saves Ange's Bacon On Wednesday Night

There were muted celebrations from the goal scorer who this week has had to delete his Instagram account due to the abuse he's received on there. This is disgusting and the people responsible for this should be ashamed of themselves, although I'm sure they won't be.

Fortunately, the ref blew the final whistle shortly afterwards. The players and staff gave only minimal celebration which was correct given how the match had played out. Whoever we draw in the next round, there will surely have to be a marked improvement in performance levels even if its a much changed side again.

An actual Saturday three o'clock kick off gives the home game against Brentford this weekend an almost retro feel. I'm hoping the team will go a bit retro and remember the first few months of last season and give the fans some of the excitement they did in that period.

This is certainly not a given because although Brentford aren't the best team in the league there aren't many that are better coached. I can't see Thomas Frank being at the club that much longer because surely a so called bigger club will come calling soon whether its in England or abroad. That'll be a shame because he's done such a great job there. They're a very frustrating team to play against so Spurs will need to be strong especially in midfield. My choice of line up would be as follows:-

Vicario

Porro

Odogie

Romero (please concentrate for 90mins this week)

Van Der Ven

Bissouma (Ange said he should be available in his Friday Press Conference)

Bentancur (ahead of Saar because he's going to miss at least six games with forthcoming FA ban)

Kulusevski

Son

Solanke

Johnson

No place for Maddison this week for me for two reasons. Firstly, he very rarely lasts ninety mins when he starts. He hasn't quite got to Rafa Van der Vaart levels of looking knackered after seventy mins yet but because he's not playing brilliantly his lack of fitness is showing more . Secondly, Kulusevski has been the best performer so far this season and is reveling in the position just behind the front three.

Kulusevski - Our Top Performer 24/25

Spurs will be missing Richarlison (again), Odebert and Werner, none of whom would have started this game anyway. Brentford still have several players unavailable including Yoane Wissa who is a fantastic talent. I think the player we will really need to keep an eye on is Fabio Carvalho who joined on a permanent deal from Liverpool in the summer. A real danger man.

With the trip to Old Trafford on the horizon, we really need three points. And Ange needs the team to show the fans they haven't lost their way. Come On You Spurs.